Question: what would happen when you have to much sleep?

Hayley Moulding answered on 14 Mar 2016:

Well, nice question! It depends a lot on how much sleep you usually have. Too much sleep is different for all people. When you sleep too much, so more than you are ‘normally’ do, it is sometimes a good thing. When you have a lie in at the weekends, that is considered more sleep, but maybe not too much sleep. Getting back to your question then (:) sorry!) too much sleep can mean that maybe there is a problem that we don’t know about it. Sometimes people sleep too much because they are tired, which is fine – we can catch up on sleep to make us feel rested and better. Some people could have a sleep problem called ‘hypersomnolence’ which literally means too much sleep! They seem to have naps during the day and are always tired even if they sleep enough during the night. Too much sleep could also be bad for you as it shortens your wake period. If we sleep too much it could lead to changes in our diet and maybe our weight. If we sleep for 18 hours rather than being awake, the times we eat and the activities we do will change. Sleep is a fine balance so we need to control it and try and get a good pattern every day.